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The Ministry of Health processed 132,467 RT-PCR (molecular) tests to detect the new coronavirus, equivalent to 0.06% of the population. The number is a part of the 259,218 respiratory samples already sent to Lacen (Central Public Health Laboratories) by April 20.
Among the remaining 126 thousand, 56,613 are under analysis, 30,474 are being examined (in transit to the laboratory), and 39,664 are considered not performed due to non-compliance (insufficient or damaged sample). According to the government, 451,432 RT-PCR tests had been distributed to the states before April 16.
630 molecular tests were performed for every million inhabitants. As a comparison, up to the same date and using the same parameter adjusted for the population of each country, Chile performed 6,430 tests and Bolivia 370.
Among the Brazilian states, São Paulo carried out 595 exams per million inhabitants; Rio de Janeiro, 524; the Amazon, 1,282; and Ceará, 954.
The data was reported by the Ministry of Health based on the GAL (Manager of the Laboratory’s Environment), a system that manages examination requests and receives the results from the laboratories.
In total numbers, the Federal District was the one that performed the least RT-PCR exams. There were 132, according to the LAG. On the other hand, the Lacen-DF board says 5,300 molecular tests were performed and that it does not use the GAL for Covid-19 test records.
Marcelo Gomes, researcher of the Scientific Computing Program of Fiocruz (Fundación Oswaldo Cruz), says that the system is good and reliable, but on condition that it is not integrated into the Influenza Epidemiological Surveillance Information System (Sivep- Flu), where care is recorded for cases of Respiratory Syndrome (SR) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
“A person from the municipal or state secretary must enter the GAL, take the test result and manually register it with Sivep. All of this takes time, people and technology, and contributes to the delay in registration, ”he says.
Collecting a respiratory sample is the first step in verifying whether a person has been infected with Sars-CoV-2. The method recommended by the Ministry of Health is the nasopharynx, in which a hyssop (type of hyssop) is inserted through the nose or mouth to the bottom of the throat, where the pharynx meets the nasal cavity.
The sample is sent to the nearest Lacen, and the health professional fills out the order form in the GAL with information such as the type of collection and the examination requested. The state laboratory receives the order, performs the analysis, and places the result in the system.
Until March 12, however, only the laboratories of the Adolfo Lutz Institute, in São Paulo, Fiocruz, in Rio de Janeiro, and the Evandro Chagas Institute, in Belém, were authorized to receive the samples and process them in the RT-PCR . Each state should send the sample of the suspected coronavirus case to the reference laboratory.
Then, the central laboratories of each unit of the federation were authorized to take the exam. Among them is the Ezequiel Dias Foundation (Funed), Lacen de Minas Gerais.
For Rodrigo Souza Leite, vice president of Funed, not having to send the sample to the reference laboratory is one of the reasons for reducing the queue of exams. They were approved in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the respective governments announced on Wednesday (22).
Another is the change in the procedure for suspicious cases. “Until then, tests were carried out for at least nine other respiratory syndromes and, if this was negative, they went to Fiocruz,” he says.
The private network does not have a consolidated number of RT-PCR tests performed. Dasa says it earned 40,000, the same amount that Grupo Fleury claims to have made.
Carlos Eduardo Ferreira, president of the Brazilian Society of Clinical Pathology / Laboratory Medicine, estimates that, in total, 600,000 molecular tests were performed in private laboratories. “It shouldn’t be more than that,” he says. He points out that the number of tests is not the same as the ones tested. “I took Covid-19 myself and took the exam three times.”
RT-PCR tests are more complicated because they require that genetic material be removed from the sample, which can be done manually or automatically.
“We have seven, eight labs that can make a huge demand for samples, and a big one is 3,000 tests per month. If the lab does these tests in one day, it’s big,” he says.
In the public network, problems with obsolete equipment and low manpower are not current. Gomes says that in times of outbreaks, when the demand for samples is very high, they don’t have the daily processing capacity to handle the volume. “More samples are arriving every day than they can process.”
On March 24, Brazil announced the purchase of 22.9 million tests for the new coronavirus. On Tuesday (20), the Ministry of Health increased the forecast to 46 million, of which 24.2 million tests are RT-PCR and 22 million, quick tests, less reliable, with a 25% chance of success in results. negatives.
